On Tuesday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m., WCHS participated in the 15th annual Leadership/Worthington Spelling BEE, which took place in the Worthington Kilbourne High School auditorium. Participants included Renee Vagnier, Gwen Dreyer, Alexa Garrison, Marisa Smith, and Van Anh Nguyen.The BEE started in 1993 teams generally made up of three participants and an alternate member. Teams were told to be in the auditorium for food, refreshments, team pictures.
The BEE invites not only students from various schools to participate, but also adults and teachers. This year, there were 23 teams made up mostly of adults from local businesses. Out of those 23 teams, five represented various high schools.
Participants were given a study guide of the words before the event, and once at the Bee, the judges placed the words in sentences.This year was WC’s first year participating. Troy McIntosh, Assistant Superintendent of WCS, was our team’s coach and commented on their experience: “A lot of the words were extremely difficult. If you have ever watched the National Spelling Bee on ESPN, you'd have a good idea about the difficulty of the words. Probably half of the words I'd never even heard before, let alone spelled.”
Out of the 23 teams, WCHS came in at 14; and out of the 5 high school teams, we placed 3rd!: “It was surprisingly fun,” said bee participant and current senior Gwen Dreyer: “It was cool to see the adults participating in the BEE along with the students.”
The word that our team misspelled was “persnickety.”
Due to the positive experience that resulted in participating in the BEE, plans for attending next year are in full swing. 12th grade English teacher Peggie Bell said: “For our first time participating, we did really well. We’re planning on going again next year and possibly taking a middle school team with us as well.”
For senior Van Anh Nguyen, the BEE was a learning experience: “This was the first time I’ve ever seen a spelling bee in person. The first round was easy, but the second round was hard and we went home too early.” Then, laughing, she said, “But we got free t-shirts from Mr. Anglea!”
